Speaking to Men

A couple years ago I attended a conference not too far from where I live. The church where the conference was held is well-known throughout the area, and the speaker is known nationwide. So I went, knowing in advance that the Lord had something to show me, though I had no idea what. If I had known in advance how devestating some of the sessions were going to be I'm not sure I'd have gone.

From a man's perspective what I found was simply staggering. The worst part of the whole thing was the personalizing of the whole concept of the bride of Christ, and that Jesus was wooing each of us individually, as a lover woos his beloved. He further went on to state that while the women were already comfortable with this, the men would need to get used to it.

Now, I'm familiar with the Biblical concept of the church being the bride of Christ. But individually? Sorry, but I just can't seem to wrap my mind around that one. Because in essence what the men in those meetings were being told is: If you want to be Christians you must surrender your masculinity and allow yourselves to be emasculated! And that is something Jesus never did. The modern church struggles to reach men, to the extent that across the board 62% of those attending church today are women, and only 38% are men. Statistically, assuming that spiritual interest is the same for men as for women, that means approximately 40% of the men that might be interested in the Gospel are MIA.

Jesus had no problem attracting and keeping male followers. So where has the church strayed, that we do?

The other thing I saw was something I've seen referred to as the two guys in front syndrome. That is, the typical worship leader, standing on a brightly lit stage, can seldom see past the first row or two. And inevetably there will be two or three guys in those front rows with hands raised towards heaven, often with tears streaming down their faces, really getting into the "praise and worship" service (i.e. the singing). What the worship leader can't see is the other 50 guys, further back, standing silently with their hands in their pockets or with their arms crossed. And believe me, we were out in force during this conference.

As I noted earlier I was totally devestated by the conference, and ended up writing the following:

Perspective:

1. There is a ministry at the mission that brings worship leaders in from around the world and helps them write and record misic in their native tongues and instrumentation (a la Jonathan Maracle and Broken Walls, etc.).

2. There are a lot of men, both present and absent, who would willingly serve their Lord at whatever the cost, who would die for their Commander in Chief.

3. So why do we not speak to men in their own language, the language of respect and service? Why do we not help our men "write and record music in their native tongues and instrumentation"?

I weep over the emasculated men of the church, for those who will never experience God's power in their lives because the power they would exercise is denied to them, and those who may never see salvation because they are unwilling to be emasculated.

James Duncan
james@tvpl.org